The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of former Senate President David Mark as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Rauf Aregbesola as the party’s National Secretary.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman dismissed a suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide, challenging the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola, describing the case as lacking merit.
The court upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, former National Chairman Chief Ralph Nwosu, David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, ruling that the matter concerns the internal affairs of the party and is therefore not justiciable.
Justice Liman also held that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit because he failed to demonstrate that his rights had been violated by the emergence of the party’s current leadership.
The judge further ruled that the lawmaker did not exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
On the substantive issues, the court held that the transfer of leadership from Chief Ralph Nwosu to David Mark did not violate the ADC constitution.
Justice Liman agreed that the July 2, 2025 meeting was a stakeholders’ meeting that preceded the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of July 29, 2025, where Mark and Aregbesola emerged as the party’s leaders in a process monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court declared that the emergence of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act, 2026, and other relevant party regulations.
Justice Liman consequently awarded costs of ₦2 million against Leke Abejide in favour of each of the defendants.
The court also imposed a ₦10 million penalty on Abejide’s lawyer in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.
Abejide had asked the court to nullify the leadership handover from Ralph Nwosu to David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola and restrain them from parading themselves as the party’s leaders, while also seeking an order preventing INEC from recognising them.
The court, however, dismissed all the claims and affirmed the legitimacy of the ADC leadership under David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola.
